America's Next Top Models...

I had so much fun taking my girls to a commercial photoshoot for my friend Kate's organic clothing line. The girls are used to posing for pictures and so I think they did a great job! They took pics wearing a few different "looks" so there will be more on the site soon. They are here and here. I also got to round up some of the models for Kate, and that was a lot of fun as well. She needed specific sizes and skills (like a 12 month size that can walk) so I didn't get to call everyone with cute kids, but I had fun offering the experience (on behalf of Kate of course) to a few friends.

The girls are in love with the clothing and they each get to pick out a thing or two for their hard work!

Clean your bling!

I don't trust jewelers. I trust one, I guess. Daniel. He's an old family friend, he is a wholesaler and travels the world in search of beautiful things and speaks five languages, English not being his first language. Anyway, he was the man when it came time to get engaged. I told Chris where to go, but went a head of him and gave Daniel the specs. I even drew a picture of what I wanted, and gave Daniel my little 3x5 card with all my directions. I remember telling him, "if you don't ask Chris for details, he won't know there's a choice...just keep it simple. Have him pick out the diamond and tell him that's all he has to do." I had all the specs already figured!

Anyway, I got a beautiful engagement ring with a round solitaire set in platinum with a band to match. I love it. (P.S. When Chris went to get the final product, Daniel outted me and gave Chris my top secret specification card!)

Daniel said he'd clean it for me for free 4 times a year. Platinum has to be buffed in order to look perfectly shiny again. Anyway, THEN HE MOVED. I literally hadn't had my rings cleaned in like three years!

The digression happens slowly, and eventually you don't even know what your ring is supposed to look like! The other day, I took it all the way to Daniel in the city and he worked his magic and I just got it back and I feel like I am wearing it for the first time all over again.

Please don't make fun of me if I have to scratch my face a lot with my left hand. I can't help it.

Get your ring cleaned!

New creations...

My friend Jennifer is an excellent photographer, I eat up all of her work and just wish she lived closer so I could hire her. Anyway, she posted about a commercial shoot she did for Sandi Henderson (that's Jennifer's daughter on the cover of the pattern in the green apron dress) and I fell in love with Sandi's pattern and fabric. Sometimes I don't trust myself to create the desired look on my own, so I decided to entirely copy her look and use the same fabrics to make dresses for my girls. I made the apron dress for Alice and a Peasant style dress for Ruby and I'm very happy with the outcome. I was impressed with the pattern and found it very well written and explained and worth the extra dough, since the product is so special and unusual and clearly not from a McCall's pattern book...at least it is obvious to any sewer!
I haven't been blogging about all my sewing adventures, I need to get pics of some more stuff I've finished. Anyway, after finishing Ruby's quilt, I moved onto this totally different endeavor of making clothing and now, tonight, I'm starting Alice's quilt. I'm ready for brainless quilting now!
I will get around to doing better pics of the girls in their dresses, but of course it started raining right before we got them on for pictures, so I didn't get them outside, they were just hanging out under the eve at my mom's house. Oh well...at least I got some pics!

Adiooooooos Moooooooooonica...

A good friend of mine is moving to "the land of Milk and Honey" (as it is called by Mimi), aka Utah. I got to go to a big farewell party for her and it was so much fun! It was at a fancy lake house owned by some other friends and so we played volleyball in the indoor pool, some played games or ping pong, and we enjoyed yummy eats and tasty treats.

Monica is a talented, giving, generous, fun and original person and I'm really going to miss her. She also makes for a great prom picture, and she took lots of "prom pics" with friends that night. Here she is with Sommer. Other than sewing and knitting together (she took the class with me), we didn't really spend a ton of time together until I found out she was MOVING. Great, so now I am going to miss her more, because I'm used to my weekly dose of Monica...Monica watching the Bachelor, Monica making tasty jello and pretzel desserts, Monica getting me all riled up with her stories of "Ned", Monica...I need more Monica!

Sweet homemade play...

So most know that the LDS church participates heavily in The Boy Scouts of America program. This is a program for young men from 12-18. What are the girls doing while they boys are scouting? Personal Progress! Personal Progress is a goal setting achievement program for the girls that are 12-18 years of age.

So two girls were bummed out because their little siblings all try out every year for the annual play put on my their elementary school. They decided for one of their projects that requires more hours and effort to write adn put on a play for every child between the ages of 3 and 12 to participate in. They held "auditions" and then practice and finally, the day of the play they had little bags with all the kids' costumes in them (that they made) and the whole thing was just super darling. The play was a bunch of mini-plays based on scripture stories.

This costume was so cute, she's a little lamb...the cutest lamb ever. It occurred to me that Ruby would have NEVER gone on stage at this age. I think that Alice just knows that Ruby is game, so she follows suit even at the young age of three. She looked just like that the whole time though...super scared, hands most of the time by her mouth and shuffling along really slow.

I love the family feel to our congregation, it was a really fun night!

A special first birthday...

Little "A" is the first child of my old friend Sandy. Sandy and I have been friends since meeting in swimming lessons the summer before sixth grade. We wound up being friends in high school after attending different middle schools. It was fun for our family to celebrate little "A"'s first birthday last weekend!

"When can we have some cake?"

I didn't have my camera, so thanks Kel for getting the pics!

Favorite pic...

I don't usually post much of my photography on this blog, but today I had to go through all my pics looking for some that were taken at a specific location, and I came across the picture that goes down in history as my favorite (that I've taken).

It is a family I met through the YMCA, and this is mom and daughter. I just love the look on the girl's face and how adoring the mom looks as she coaxes her daughter to cooperate with the photographer.

Anyway, now that I've tooted my own horn...

Photography is going well, and I'm having more fun with it as my straight out of camera shots get more and more accurate so that I spend less time after a shoot on the computer fixing things. I am looking forward to a busy April with lots of senior portrait sessions and my first ever wedding. (I know, I'm a little scared, but I told them it's my first and I feel confident that it will go smoothly.)

She's sensitive...

Sorry, I know I've written a lot about Ruby very recently, but that's the whole point of my blog, really...so here's a few more tidbits that I will love to remember in twenty years. Ruby is very sensitive, here's a few examples:

1. We recently finished reading the American Girl series, "Addy." She is a little girl who was a slave during the Civil War and she escapes to freedom, gets to go to school, sees the war end...anyway, just a delightful character. Ruby devoured the story and when I read her the last page, she burst into tears because she was sad that the story is over. She wanted to start again right away. Through her tears, she said, "Mom, I'm gonna miss Addy so much!"

2. Ruby loves music (like me) and she thankfully listens to my music quite happily. She often asks what the lyrics mean (so I have to be pretty careful), and she will belt the songs at the top of her lungs in the car, right along with yours truly. One of her favorite artists is Carrie Underwood, but there is one song that Ruby can't hear or it makes her really, really sad. It is called, "Don't Forget to Remember Me," and is about a girl who moves away from her mom and dad when she turns 18. Ruby can't handle it.

3. When we feed the ducks or when we fed the goats at the goat farm, if there is a dominant animal kind of bullying one to get in prime food grabbing position, Ruby does not have it. She will always go to the underling and give it extra attention and some really nice coos, like baby talk. Our family dog has transitioned into an outdoor/garage dog, and she always goes outside to cuddle on him and pet him or throw the ball in the most drastic of weather conditions. It is so sweet.

I love my girl!

Pee spot...

There's only one boy in our house, but sometimes his influence weighs pretty heavily on the rest of us. For example...he has a place in our yard (a place that would never be crossed by another human, it's in the front yard, behind where he parks the truck in a little patch of bark under a tree) where he likes to relieve himself. He will literally get up in the morning and hold it until he gets to his spot. He will get home from work, and be a few paces from a flushing toilet, and he'll opt to just go in his private, nature spot. Easier done for boys than girls, right?

So my mom was here a few weeks ago and she was out at the slide/swing set with the girls when Alice had to go to the bathroom. Ruby suggested she go in their "spot", which she explained to my mom, is under the slide that faces the house (hence, we can't see they are peeing outside from the house). She added, "Oma, don't tell my mom and dad!"

I got a good laugh out of it even though I totally disapprove and I'll have to talk to them about this before the next nice day.

Interview with Alice...

These interviews don't work quite as well on a three year old, but here we go...

1. What is something mom always says to you? No
2. What makes mom happy? When you watch a show.
3. What makes mom sad? When you don’t watch a movie.
4. When does your mom laugh? In six minutes.
5. What was your mom like as a child? She was a mommy.
6. How old is your mom? I don’t know.
7. How tall is your mom? Tall, like this tall. (Arm stretched over her head)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Puzzles
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Play
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Making cake.
11. What is your mom really good at? Reading books.
12. What is your mom not very good at? I want to talk about ME!
13. What does your mom do for her job? I am.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Cheerios
15. What makes you proud of your mom? In coloring books.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Mommy’s not a cartoon!
17. What do you and your mom do together? We eat together (at the moment, we are eating cereal together…hence #14). We talk to Opa on the computer. (Skype)
18. How are you and your mom the same? My face is white and your face is white.
19. How are you and your mom different? Ruby is not the same, no. Because she’s grey.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? She lets me have a graham cracker. I like graham crackers.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? When daddy makes food.
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? To Cub Scouts (I’m a Webelos leader).

Alice is doing something now that kind of bothers me. I'm not discouraging it, but I wish she wouldn't do it. She is giving me ALL OF HER LOVEY's. She gave them to me on Saturday, her blankie stars, her puppy, her piggy, her minnie mouse...she finds them and brings them to me all day and reminds me not to forget them when I leave the house. It's like this four year long attachment is over or something...overnight. I know she's giving me things to be generous with me, so I accept enthusiastically, but I've been reassuring her that they can be hers again, and she just reassures me that she wants me to have them. I don't mind sleeping with her blankies at night, they smell like her and are easier to sleep with than the real thing.

I was so happy last night in the middle of the night when she came into my room crying and asked for her Puppy. I didn't know where Puppy was, so I just said, "here's blankie star, we'll find puppy in the morning..." and off she was to bed. So she woke up and has been walking around the house so far today with both blankets and her puppy in tow. Whew! I really don't want her to stop with her lovey's.

P.S. If anyone knows the rule on how to spell lovey and lovey's or is it lovies...let me know.